Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Sheriff's deputies are dispatched to a home after workers see bodies while looking through the window, after no one answered the door. Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy, Erica, 65, and a dog, are found dead. Responding officers find the front door in the glass entryway of Hackman ‘s two story, green-colored stucco home open... ajar just a bit, but there did not appear to be any signs of forced entry. During the search, deputies say all other buildings and the garage connected to the 3.8 million dollar home appeared to be locked and secured. It did not appear as if the home had been rummaged through or any items taken. In the officer’s words nothing appeared to be "out of place" . According to the search warrant affidavit, walking in the front door, officers see a bathroom to the left of the front door. The bathroom door is open. Betsy Arakawa is lying on her right side, dead. Police say she is wearing dark gray sweatpants and a light colored sweatshirt. Next to the body is a black space heater near her head, but the report doesn’t say if it was on. The officer also see an open orange prescription bottle, with pills scattered on the counter-top. The deputy says there are obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet. As deputies continue their search, they see feet and legs near the kitchen area. Gene Hackman is found dead, in the mud-room of the home. He is wearing gray sweat pants, a blue long-sleeve t-shirt, brown slippers, has a walking-cane, and a pair of sunglasses. Hackman also showed obvious signs of death, similar and consistent with his wife. An autopsy was performed. Initial findings noted no external trauma to either individual the manner and cause of death has not been determined. The official results of the autopsy and toxicology reports are pending. Joining Nancy Grace today: www.drbethanymarshall.comthe-sun.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A trucker narrowly avoids hitting a missing girl who wandered away from her home. Cops argue with wanted suspect..on facebook! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16-year-old Sophia Martin Franklin is still missing. Sophia is 5’9”, 186 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. The teenager is believed to be travelling in a black 2014 Buick Lacrosse with Pennsylvania plate number KGW5186. The driver is 40-year-old abductor, Gary Day, the father of Sophia’s unborn child, but how did Franklin come to be with Day? The summer before Sophia’s junior year of high school, Sophia asks her parents if it would be okay if she stays with her best friend’s family. The girls have been close for years and do everything together. Sophia makes a lot of good points about saving time and gas, and promises to check in frequently, so her parents eventually agree, knowing how happy it would make their daughter. Sophia makes the move in late July and says she’s having the time of her life! Meanwhile, Gary Day is four years into a 6-year probation sentence and is used to surprise visits from his probation officer, but in December, the 40-year-old seems extremely nervous when the officer stops by. The supervisor also catches a glimpse of a woman running out the back door! He immediately chases her down and after an intense line of questioning—gets out that she is just 16-years-old and from Wisconsin! The teen admits she’s been with Day since August, and her family has no idea. Sophia Franklin is removed from Day’s home and taken for a medical examination while authorities contact her family. Her parents are shocked and horrified to learn their daughter has been three states away with a predator this whole time—and even more appalled to learn she’s pregnant. Sophia is returned to Wisconsin as quickly as possible, and her parents take every step possible to protect her from Day and help their daughter heal. Joining Nancy Grace today: www.drbethanymarshall.com/www.uspasecurity.comwww.childhelp.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jamie Dickerson never believed her daughter, April Holt, committed suicide. Not because she is in denial, but because she knows her daughter was trying to leave her marriage and had told her husband two weeks before her death that she wants a divorce. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack discuss the case, how 29-year-old April Holt is found unresponsive in the bathroom of the home she shares with her husband and son, with a plastic bag taped tightly around her neck. Why is her death ruled a suicide, and what does her mother do to catch the killer and see him go to trial for murder. This episode discusses domestic abuse and suicide. If you are someone you know is living in a domestic violence situation, there is a toll free number to call: 1-800-799-3233. There is also a number if you are having thoughts of self-harm or even taking your own life, the suicide hotline and Crisis Lifeline - 988. Transcribe Highlights 00:00.97 Introduction NOTE - In this episode both domestic violence and suicide will be discussed 05:09.61 Victim's mother solves the crime 09:50.94 Discussion of the "finder" and the "reporter" 14:11.21 Talk about framing of a story for the police on the scene 18:58.24 How cases are classified as "final exit" case 25:00.55 Discussion of broken blood vessels in the cheek 30:20.65 Claim of "sex play" gone too far and staging the scene 35:02.96 Killer sentenced to two-years in prison 39:29.59 Sentence is a "slap in the face to victims of domestic violence" 41:03.67 Conclusion Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-3233 Suicide Hotline and crisis lifeline - 988 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Justice Nation: Crime Stops Here is presented with limited commercial interruption thanks to Lifelock. Join now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LifeLock and use promo code NANCY or go to https://www.LifeLock.com/NANCY for 40% off. Terms apply. Schools are supposed to be a safe place for children to grow and learn, but all too often terrifying crimes involving our children happen at school. 38% of child abductions occur when a child is going to and from school. Bullying in the classroom and fights in the school bathroom. And don’t forget teachers turned sexual predators, or unthinkable emergencies. How do you keep your kids safe when you’re not with them? Nancy Grace sits down with world class experts in child and school safety to tackle these important issues to prepare parents and kids about how to stay safe at school. Schools are supposed to be a safe place for children to grow and learn, but all too often terrifying crimes involving our children happen at school. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Susan Smith's ex-husband has revealed what she said to him after she killed their young boys. David Smith tells Dateline his ex-wife casually, said, ‘I’m sorry,' and that was about as far as it went." After high school, Susan Leigh Vaughan married David Smith. They had two sons, but the marriage faltered despite the children. The couple separated multiple times. During one separation, Susan began dating Tom Findlay, the single son of a wealthy mill owner. Smith imagined a future with Findlay until she received a "Dear John" letter from him, stating he did not want an instant family. On the night of October 25, Susan Smith knocked on the door of a house near John D. Long Lake. Hysterical, she told the man who answered to call the police. She claimed an armed Black man had carjacked her at a red light, with her two boys—3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex—still in the car. For days, Susan repeated increasingly inconsistent versions of the carjacking story. Eventually, Smith confessed. There had been no carjacker. Feeling desperate, alone, and suicidal, she had taken her sons for a drive. At John D. Long Lake, she put the car in neutral, jumped out, and watched as the car sank. Scuba divers later found the vehicle with the boys still strapped in their seats. Since her conviction and incarceration, tabloid reports have alleged that Smith told prison investigators about four sexual encounters with Lieutenant Houston Cagle, a supervisor at South Carolina’s Women’s Correctional Institution. C Cagle admitted to having sex with Smith and another inmate. In August 2000, he was charged with the offenses, pleaded guilty, and served three months in jail. Captain Alfred Rowe also pleaded guilty to having sex with Smith and received five years of probation. Thirty years after Susan Smith drove her car into a lake with her two sons strapped in their car seats, she sought parole. A parole board denied her request. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Tara MalekDr. Bethany MarshallChris McDonoughBody Bags with Joseph Scott MorganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taylor Meyer plans a Valentine's Day Dinner for his wife Deborah, with a theme; "Bring Paris to You." Pulling out all the stops, Meyer has their children draw pictures of the Eiffel Tower to decorate the table, buys Deborah a beautiful new dress, and orders food from their favorite Japanese steakhouse. After a lovely dinner, he gives his wife a Valentine's Day Card with a personal message, and they dance to their wedding song. When the song ends and the dance is finished, Deborah Meyer doesn't give her husband the reaction he wants, and they begin to argue. Deborah leaves the house and is gone for about 20 minutes, when she returns, Taylor accuses her of cheating on him with a coworker and accuses Deborah of visiting her boyfriend, who just got off work. He then wants to see messages on her watch and to look at her phone, when she refuses, a physical fight breaks out and Taylor Meyer pins his wife to the ground, sits on her back, choking her, getting the phone. He finds a number listed as "my best friend Emily" and calls the number. A man answers the phone number and Taylor Meyer tells him " It's your ... fault. Deborah continues to struggle and challenge her husband, asking him "What are you going to do, kill me? You're going to hurt me and leave our kids with no parents?" Deborah hits Taylor in the head with a water bottle, he responds by hitting her in the head with a wine bottle." Deborah begins screaming for help, screaming for her children, for the police, and the person on the other end of the cell call hears her screams. When Deborah is no longer responsive. Taylor Meyer goes to the kitchen, getting "a big-ass knife," ultimately stabbing Deborah 40 times. Joining Nancy Grace today: www.pibarry.comwww.sassgo.orgwww.ChristinaAguayoNews.ComSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mom who refuses to accept suicide ruling for her daughter gets her son-in-law to confess to her murder. Woman stopped at the border with a giant load of bologna! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11:16 pm Saturday night. Princeton Police answer a 911 call about a dead body and a fire in an apartment building. The caller remains cryptic on the phone, not answering the dispatcher's questions about who is dead, why they are dead, who owns the apartment, and more. Police and first responders surround the building, but nothing could have prepared officers for what they found inside. Matthew Hertgen, 31, answers the door for cops, who immediately see a bloody, unresponsive young man with clear blunt force and laceration injuries to his entire body. The young man is pronounced dead on the scene. Investigators note one of his eyes is ripped out and there’s a bloody plate, fork, and knife not far from his body. In addition to the knife, officers find a bloody golf club in the apartment, and what looks like the charred remains of a cat. The victim is identified as 26-year-old Joseph Hertgen. Matthew Hertgen is immediately arrested for the murder of younger brother Joseph. The discovery of the bloody plate leads officers to believe in addition to beating Joseph to death, Hertgen ate Joseph’s eye. Princeton PD has not revealed any potential motive for the gruesome attack on his brother and the family cat. Hertgen is additionally charged with animal cruelty, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The Princeton community is shocked by the horrifying crime, calling the loss of Joseph devastating and incredibly tragic. A police source says no one could have predicted that something like this would happen. Matthew Hertgen comes from what appears to be a perfect, all-American family, with no indication he was capable of this level of brutality, much less against his own family. Joining Nancy Grace today: darksides.podia.comkaren.e.wallSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Teen son accidentally kills his father in a drunken fight. Memphis food truck customers don't react after witnessing a shooting. For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bryan Kohberger's attorneys have filed paperwork to take the death penalty off the table for their client. Their motion “to Strike Death Penalty RE: Autism Spectrum Disorder,” was filed on Monday, as well as a motion to "Redact or Seal Newly Filed Records” “in Support of their Motion to Strike Death Penalty RE: Autism Spectrum Disorder Under Seal.” It means the attorney have given the nod to autism spectrum disorder in asking the court to Kohberger off death row. As of early this morning, the full documents were not publicly available online. The motions are also sealed which means it's not clear whether Kohberger has been diagnosed or if the defense was seeking a diagnosis. This as Judge Stephen Hippler delivered a blow to quadruple homicide suspect Bryan Kohberger's defense with his ruling on the DNA technique prosecutors used to identify the then-grad student as the prime suspect. Hippler determined that police did not violate Kohberger's constitutional rights, as there is 'no reasonable expectation of privacy in identity' and Kohberger's team 'did not prove that his DNA was tested for anything other than identifying purposes.' The judge wrote, 'Even if the DNA analysis revealed sensitive personal details, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in crime scene DNA.' Actually, Judge Hippler has rejected multiple defense motions to suppress evidence. Hippler ruled that Kohberger's constitutional rights were not violated by police during the searches leading up to his arrest. One motion sought to toss genetic evidence obtained through forensic genealogy, but the court found there was no violation. The defense also requested a hearing to examine where the court was misled in obtaining warrants. The judge denied the hearing. The court upheld digital evidence from Kohberger’s Google, Apple, Amazon, & AT&T accounts, dismissing claims that the FBI’s subpoenas constituted warrantless searches, saying the search warrants were valid. Joining Nancy Grace today: www.drbethanymarshall.com/www.coldcasefoundation.org/chris-mcdonoughSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Believed mentally ill woman beats her mother to death in front of teen sister. Battery by hamburger? For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Pennsylvania family is worried sick about 14-year-old Enci “Aubrey” Wu, who disappeared six weeks ago. Aubrey’s parents say based on her secret social media use, Aubrey could be anywhere from California to Saudi Arabia. Her parents terrified she was lured out of their home by a predator and may be a victim of sex-trafficking. Just over six months after Aubrey gets her own phone, her parents discover a second, older iPhone hidden in her room. When confronted, Aubrey admits she convinced a boy at school to give it to her, and he told his parents he lost it. Aubrey paid for a new iCloud account to use on the phone, bypassing both her parents’ blocks and rules on when she can use a phone. Aubrey’s extremely upset when her parents take both phones away and ground her. 10:00 p.m., January 10th, Palmer Township PD knock on Aubrey Wu’s door, asking her parents to wake her up for a welfare check. Officers say Aubrey’s boyfriend, a boy the parents don’t know, begged his parents to call police, as he hadn’t heard from Aubrey in more than 24 hours. Stepfather John Gehrmann calls upstairs for Aubrey several times—but receives no answer. The family’s security cameras reveal Aubrey crawled out her bedroom window, crept across the roof, shimmied down a grate, and disappeared into a back alley behind their home more than three hours ago. Where is Aubrey? Joining Nancy Grace today: www.carynstark.comwww.uspasecurity.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stepfather shoots and kills 15-year-old boy because he didn't rake the leaves. ER 'patient' lodges himself in the ceiling. For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Investigators quickly determine that Moriah "Mo" Wilson, shot dead at a friend's home, was not a random target. After a few interviews, they realize Wilson's past relationship with Colin Strickland did not sit well with his current girlfriend, yoga instructor and real estate agent Kaitlin Armstrong. The day after police question her, Armstrong sells her Jeep Grand Cherokee to a CarMax in South Austin for $12,000. The same Jeep appears on surveillance video near the scene of Wilson's murder. The next day, Armstrong books a flight out of Austin. Eight days after Wilson's murder, investigators link Armstrong to the crime, and a warrant is issued for her arrest. As the warrant is issued, police discover she is already gone. Surveillance footage at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport captures Armstrong boarding a flight to Houston, then on to New York. Investigators track her to New York's LaGuardia Airport, where she is seen again on surveillance video before seemingly vanishing. They later trace her to Newark International Airport but find no outbound flights under her name. However, had they looked closely, they might have noticed a young woman with brown hair flying out of Newark using the passport of her sister, who also has brown hair and lives in New York. A check with Homeland Security reveals "Christie Armstrong" left Newark on a one-way flight to Costa Rica. Armstrong lands in San José, Costa Rica, but does not stay long. She quickly disappears again. A month later, a source reports she may be hiding in Santa Teresa. After days of searching with no success, U.S. Marshals try a new tactic: placing ads for a yoga instructor. After nearly a week, they get a break—someone responds. An investigator, posing as a tourist, visits a hostel to get a closer look at the woman. She resembles Armstrong but not exactly. As he gets closer, he notices a bandage on her nose and swollen lips, but her eyes remain the same. Investigators now understand why she was so difficult to find—she had undergone plastic surgery. Joining Nancy Grace today: darksides.podia.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Woman stabbed to death by her boyfriend because he didn't like her haircut. Acrobatic car thief thinks he can escape cops! For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A landlord staging a property in preparation for a new tenant, sees what appears to be the foot of a child sticking out of the ground. The landlord calls police, and they find the remains of 9-year-old Zemar King III buried in a shallow grave. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack discuss mother Brandee Pierce, who is caught in Georgia in January, where she is already in jail. She's charged with abuse of her three-year-old days before Christmas. Joseph Scott Morgan also explains how investigators determined how Brandee Pierce "smothered" and "choked" her 9-year-old son to death before burying him in a backyard grave and then skipping town. Transcript Highlights 00:00.01 Introduction 01:53.70 Zemar King, little boy left in shallow grave by his mother 04:57.48 Would a human foot look different than a plastic foot in the dirt? 10:25.76 Investigators benefit from "containment" 14:33.47 Reactionary event, panic 19:12.14 How long has it been since victim died 24:41.84 What actually happened to Zemar? 30:15.49 Hands and feet of Zemar were tied together 36:24.94 Determining how Zemar died - smothering / neck compression 39:28.72 Conclusion: Case is still active, we will update See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Samantha Koenig was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Anchorage, Alaska, coffee stand where she worked as a barista in February 2013 by a man who may be one of the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. Israel Keyes developed an elaborate plan to demand a ransom for the 18-year-old's return. After his arrest, Keyes admits to killing 11 people across the country, but are there more? JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY: Twitter:@DrBethanyLive CCEAlaw.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Justice Nation: Crime Stops Here is presented with limited commercial interruption thanks to Lifelock. Join now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LifeLock and use promo code NANCY or go to https://www.LifeLock.com/NANCY for 40% off. Terms apply. It’s a whole new world and it’s changing every day. Children increasingly have unsupervised access to the connected world, and with all the benefits new technology brings it also needs new dangers. How do you prepare yourself? Beginning with an in depth interview with survivor-turned-advocate Alicia Kozakiewicz, Nancy and her panel of experts teach parents practical tips for parents to combat the threat of online predators and how to deal with cyber bullies. Plus, learn how to talk with your kids about the everyday dangers of oversharing information on social media. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hours after Chris Watts made an emotional plea for help finding his missing wife and two young daughters, the Colorado man led police to their bodies hidden in oil tanks near where he worked. Now after being convicted for the three murders, Chris Watts has labeled his pregnant wife, Shanann, a “control freak,” and claims that he sought refuge with his mistress. He says Nichol Kessinger was “everything my wife wasn’t like with me.” Watts confided to a jail mate that his marriage to Shanann was unhappy but Nichol was just everything my wife wasn’t like with me. She was just nice, and not a control freak." Later on, Watts told the jail mate that Kessinger became “the death of me.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.